Broome & Beyond: Doon Doon Roadhouse

I'm packed up (what little there is to pack :-) and driving to the nearby geocache when I realise, this is not just a non-truck truck bay. It's a minimum-facility camping area for the Little Panton River. The old river crossing is a ford, still with a bit of water flowing over.

There is a tent, a few caravans, people relaxing. The horses have gathered by the river, close to the new road bridge. There are pools, not too big and lots of sandy river bottom. Still not much passing traffic. Very, very peaceful.

I look at the sand and the water. Then drive back to the road -- and the cache is in easy reach, just under the bridge.

Onward !

The country has changed. Before HC it was flat as a board. Now it's hills. Not huge hills -- though they do get higher. It looks like pleasant, rolling countryside -- until I notice the rocks sticking out of the hills. Now it looks like beautiful country which would be hell for a pedestrian.

Occasionally, there is need for a message such as this:

Forgot to mention this earlier: Just outside Broome, on the way to Cape Leveque, the truck passed 222,222 km on the odometer. Both Deb & I were impressed :-)  I seem to remember that the Prado was close to 100,000 when I bought it.

I write as stream of consciousness. Sometimes this means going back to add something to the day's post. Sometimes -- when the post has been posted -- I need to add a forgotten point. Some points -- such as 222,222 above -- have been forgotten through many, many postings... Okay, back to today.

I pick up a few more caches. Most, I think, are placed by the same person. He is someone who knows how to write a good "hint"... thank goodness. After Warmun, however, the temperature is above 30, I can't find one cache, I no longer stop for every single cache...

There's a lot of roadwork, mostly repairing or replacing road surface. This could be where all the contracttors go from the HC hotel. There are also half a dozen one-lane bridges and lots of winding road. Definitely a very scenic part of the drive north.

I stop for fuel at Warmun. Turns out I'm at the community shop rather than the roadhouse. There is a sign, "Roadhouse 1km", I missed it. No matter.

The shop is very relaxed. The car filling up ahead of me is also buying groceries. All passengers must be in the shop. The driver just ahead of me has been talking to the locals, she drives on... I guess, now, that she found out that this is the shop not the roadhouse. People start boarding the car at the pump. Mother, two young women, some groceries. A bit of discussion as to who will sit where.

I drive up to the pump. Put the nozzle in the tank and wait... Nothing happens. A woman calls out, I need to go inside.

Inside is the shop. It seems that payment is made in advance. I want to just fill up, don't know how much it will take, so I leave my credit card at the counter. Back outside, fill up.

I search the shop, can't find iced coffee. See a woman with milk... there must also be coffee... look where she came from... find iced coffee. Back to the counter. Wait in queue. An older woman says, After you, she still needs to sort out her fuel. Pre-pay is the standard, I guess.

It's a relaxed place to queue. Watching, listening to the locals buying groceries. The place has a friendly feel though I do feel like the odd one out. Good practice for me. This is, after all, the local community.

Onward ! A cache close by. On to the roadhouse. It's crowded! Glad I don't need fuel. I do dump some fruit from Broome... It seems that fruit is not allowed north of here. This may only apply to stone fruit and citrus. Doesn't matter, I ate enough apples -- this morning -- for three doctors. Now I dump the few that are left.

Lunch at Doon Doon roadhouse. Quite a nice place. Cache notes indicate that it's at least eight years old but it seems a lot newer.The weather is warm but not in the shade where I'm sitting. There's a cache, I looked, failed to find.

In the roadhouse the woman at the counter -- visitor from Europe, Germany? from the accent -- is dedicated to turniing over the various greased comestibles in the bain marie. It takes her five minutes to see me standing in front of her.

I take the free driver's tea, a meat pie and an iced coffee for the drive. (It'll be nice and warm by then!) The pie advertises itself as "60% bigger". I'd guess that the meat is 60% cheaper. Tastes okay, though. Especially since breakfast was a muesli bar and dinner is still more than 100km away.

Time to drive...

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky." - Michel de Montaigne

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